Windows Live Writer CTP

I have been a big fan of Windows Live Writer since it was first available, and that continues with the latest CTP release. There have been a lot of changes between the last beta and this CTP, including some much needed UI improvements and new features, including:

Upload videos to Soapbox

Image cropping and tilting

Additional border styles

Support for LightBox and other image previewing effects (like Slimbox, Smoothbox, and others)

Support for centering images

Auto Linking

Smart quotes/typographic characters

Word count

Tabs for view switching

Improved category control with search/filtering

There are also some SDK updates that will provide a lot of flexibility for plug-ins, including a new set of experimental API hooks for pre- and post-publish events. For more details about the SDK, check out the blog post on Windows Live Dev.